Better Than Trader Joe’s Kale and Edamame Bistro Salad

This is the tale of the teenager who became besotted with Trader Joe’s prepared, packaged Kale and Edamame Bistro Salad, and the mom who was going broke buying them for her, at $4 a pop.

It’s a simple story, involving a woman fully aware that of all the addictions in the world, a love of kale salad was, shall we admit, the best possible one to have. Ever.

In fact, rather than calling it an addiction, the mom might better term it a good eating habit, and leave it at that.

But the wallet doesn’t lie, and $12 a week in packaged kale salads was just not, uh, cutting it (pause for a polite laugh).

Not to mention the plastics involved in the individual packaging, and the special trip to TJ’s, etc.  And the fact that the teenager, who knows what she likes, doesn’t really like the lemon dressing that comes packaged with the salad, so discards it like so much useless detritus.

So the mom, a kale lover herself and handy with a knife, set out to not only duplicate the TJ’s salad, but while she was at it, better it. She chiffonaded Tuscan kale, not only because she likes saying the word chiffonade, but because it helps to tenderize kale to cut the pieces smaller. She chiffonaded (again!) fresh mint and basil to give the salad a fragrance and a lift, she tossed in Craisins for a sweet touch, carrot shreds for color, and garbanzos and edamame for protein and texture. And she dressed it simply, in lemon juice and olive oil, with a pinch o’ this and that to bring it all together.

Voila, my darling teenager. Your better, cheaper, prettier, more ecologically sound salad awaits!

Tagged as: basil, cherry tomatoes, chickpeas, copycat, Craisins, cranberries, edamame, garbanzo beans, kale, kale salad, lemon juice, Meyer lemons, mint, olive oil, Trader Joe's, Tuscan kale